Rouen Cathedral, Normandy, France

The Romans arrived at Rouen in 58 BC, and were met with opposition by the local Belgian and Celtic tribes, who fought against them.  Julius Ceasar described them in his notes on the Gallic War. Christianity is said to have been established in the area, during the Roman reign.  Saint Mellonius was ordained as Bishop of Rouen in the mid-3rd Century. 

It is said that there has been a church at this location since the 4th Century. It was enlarged by St. Ouen in the 7th Century and visited by Charlemagne in the 8th Century. In the 9th Century, it was plundered by Viking raids, until the lands were given to the Viking leader Rollo, in exchange for protection of the northern lands. Rollo was baptised in the Cathedral at Rouen, in 915 and buried in it in 932. Rollo’s grandson, Richard I of Normandy, enlarged and rebuilt parts of the Cathedral. It was consecrated in 1063, in the presence of William the Conqueror, before he took England in 1066. Nothing above the crypt survives from this early Cathedral.

In the mid-12th Century, Bishop Hugues d’Amiens began the rebuilding of the Cathedral at Rouen, after it had been devastated by a fire caused by a lightning strike. He decided to rebuild it in the new Gothic style he admired at Saint Denis Basilica in Paris. This work was completed in the mid-13th Century. However, this was not the end of the building work, after the spire collapsed in the 14th Century, it was rebuilt along with the addition of the Lady Chapel. The windows were enlarged and the upper story of the northwest tower was added in the 15th Century. The central porch and west front were rebuilt in the early 16th Century. While the building style is gothic, it is a building that has been built over centuries.

The Dukes of Normandy were crowned in Rouen Cathedral and many of them are buried here. There is a tomb to Richard I of England, but only his heart lies in it, the rest of his remains are in Fontevraud Abbey. Richard I’s older brother, Henry, is also buried here. The Cathedral also contains the tomb of Matilda of England, who was the daughter of Henry I and the mother of Henry II. Her son William is also buried here.

The late 15th Century staircase in Rouen Cathedral, once lead to the Cathedral library, which was situated just above the Gothic arched door. It is known today as the Escalier de la Librairie, or Bookseller’s Stairway.

In 1788, another story was built above the library to hold the Cathedral’s records, and the upper flight of stairs was added then.

Inside the Cathedral there is a wall of statues. These are the original statues, the Cathedral’s façade displays duplicates.

Monet created a series of impressionist paintings using Rouen Cathedral as his subject. He painted more than thirty views of the Cathedral in the late 19th Century. He captured the façade of the Cathedral at different times of the day, and reflected different conditions of light and colour. It is said that he sat on the first floor, just across from the cathedral, in a room that is now the tourist office.

In 1873, Benjamin Winkles wrote:

‘Rouen Cathedral may be considered as a whole superior to any other in France. To say the Rouen Cathedral is one of the first class is not enough; it is undoubtedly among the first in that class if it does not stand alone as altogether.’

It is somewhat amazing that Rouen Cathedral exists today. In the late 16th Century, the Cathedral was damaged in the French Wars of Religion. Furniture, tombs, books and stained glass were all lost. The Cathedral was again struck by lightning in the first half of the 17th Century, and its woodwork also burned in the 18th Century. The government nationalized the building in the 18th Century, and sold off some of its furniture and statues, while the chapel fences were melted down to make guns, to support the wars of the French Republic. In the 20th Century, the cathedral was bombed during World War II. Seven bombs in total fell on the buildings, damaging much of the south aisle and destroying two of the rose windows.